New Cameron flood maps take effect Nov. 16

Cameron Parish residents without flood insurance should buy coverage before the new Federal Emergency Management Agency flood
maps become effective Nov. 16 so they can get the best premiums, a FEMA official said Wednesday.

Agency spokesman Robert Alvey said that getting flood insurance early could save residents money if their flood zone changes
next month. The maps detail flood risk throughout the parish.

“Buying insurance is one part of being prepared in the event of a disaster,” he said.

Parish Administrator Tina Horn told the American Press
last month that the new maps will have about 30 percent of the parish
in a velocity zone, or V-zone. She said the high-risk
flood zone has more restrictions for new development and requires
more expensive flood insurance premiums. V-zone areas cannot
get federal assistance to rebuild public facilities, Horn said.

Most of the parish is in an A-zone, which has fewer restrictions and allows for cheaper flood insurance premiums.

Horn said the new flood maps are drastically different from FEMA’s Digital Flood Insurance Rate Maps, which had 80 percent
of the parish in a V-zone.

The parish hired Lonnie Harper and Associates, a local engineering firm; civil engineer Joe Suhayda; and the Massachusetts-based
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to handle the appeal of the DFIRMs. David Minton, an engineer with Lonnie Harper and
Associates, said the appeals process took about four years.